dhsnke
Senior Member
We were on birds all morning but they were with hens. Had 2 different birds within 80 yards but they just wouldn't commit. There had been one bird up high that gobbled most of the morning so I decided to change tactics when we set up on him. We quietly went to the area I thought he was at, set up one lone hen decoy and waited about 15 minutes before I started calling. My goal was to light up the hens I new he had with him. First series of calls got no response. Second series a hen fired up not far up the ridge we were set up on. I turned and saw a hen, no a jake, no a BEARDED hen coming straight toward us. She came to about 8 yards and got fired up. That made the Tom gobble just over the hill. Soon he came over the rise in full strut about 60 yards but offered no shot. The hen started to leave and I thought it he would follow but to my surprise he committed about 5 more yards to a little opening and I lowered the boom. He was 22lbs, one beard was 10 inches and the other was 5.5 and had one inch spurs. This is the second double beard in as many years that I killed at Johns Mountain. His spurs were bigger in diameter at the base than the one last year. They never get real long and sharp at John's because of the rocks. I think he was 4 years old.
